Technical Field
The present invention relates to a capacitive type position indicator used in conjunction with a position detecting device and having a pen pressure detecting function.
Description of the Related Art
A capacitive type position detecting device (touch panel), which enables input operation by a finger, is used as an input device of a portable terminal, such as a tablet type personal computer (PC) or a mobile telephone terminal (see, for example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-243081)). However, the use of not only fingers but also position indicators configured in a pen form as indicators has recently been increasing.
Conventionally, a type of position indicator referred to as a passive capacitive pen is mainly used for a capacitive type position detecting device of this kind. The passive capacitive pen has a conductive rubber or the like attached to a tip end portion (pen tip) of a core body, and static electricity is made to flow to a human body through the conductive rubber and a conductive casing of the pen type position indicator. The passive capacitive pen thus enables touch input as a substitute for a finger.
However, the conventional position indicator referred to as the conventional passive capacitive pen adopts a system of absorbing static electricity, and therefore requires a certain area of contact with the touch panel. In particular, the conventional passive capacitive pen requires the area of contact between the conductive rubber and the touch panel to be a size approximately equal to an area of contact between the touch panel and a finger. Therefore, with the conventional passive capacitive pen, fine operating input on the touch panel is difficult, even though the passive capacitive pen is a pen type position indicator.
Accordingly, a pen type position indicator (active capacitive pen) has appeared recently which adopts a system in which a signal is sent out from the position indicator side and the signal is detected on the touch panel side, rather than the system of absorbing static electricity. The active capacitive pen has an advantage in that the touch panel can detect a position indicated by the position indicator even when the pen tip is finer because the signal is sent out from the pen tip.
As the pen tip, which is a tip end portion of a core body of the position indicator, becomes finer, a writing feeling as in a case of paper and a pencil is desired as an additional functional element of the position indicator. In order to vary the writing feeling, a material of the pen tip of the core body of the position indicator may be changed. For example, a pen tip made of a metal, a pen tip made of a resin, a pen tip in the form of a felt, and the like have been proposed. In the case of a pen tip made of a resin, in particular, various resin materials can be employed as the resin itself, and the writing feeling can be changed according to each material. The writing feeling of the active capacitive pen can then be changed easily by replacing the core body with core bodies having pen tips made of these different materials.